Sports Rights’ Streaming Wave May Finally End Pay-TV Bundle
NBCUniversal, Disney and ViacomCBS, along with tech giants like Amazon, are shifting resources to snap up live programming from major leagues in a new arms race to fuel direct-to-consumer services.
Before NBCUniversal’s Olympic coverage was beamed to its Peacock app, it passed through the streamer’s digital network operations center. The Peacock DNOC, as it’s called, sits in a far corner of NBC Sports’ headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, with a wall of monitors at the front of the glass-encased room and a two-story window overlooking oversized Olympic rings in the parking lot outside. Rows of desks are stacked with Rokus and Xboxes and PlayStations and Fire TVs, with technical staff making sure the live connection is working on every conceivable device and TV.